


The Gift of Sight

by RCA71



Category: Bucky Barnes - Fandom, Captain America
Genre: F/M, I cried while I was writing it., I don't want to give anything away, it's emotional. you'll probably cry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-19
Updated: 2014-05-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 17:10:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1656077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RCA71/pseuds/RCA71
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Imagine humans saw in black and white, then when they meet their soul mate, everything turned to color? Ask Bucky Barnes about it, he knows a thing or two. Imagine if a Mulan story were to happen in WWII, I like to think that this is how it would've gone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Gift of Sight

What if humans saw in black and white, and then when they met their soul mate, everything turned to color?

 

            “Listen Margaret, I’m not changing my mind. I’m doing this.” I said while I trimmed my already boy-short hair. In the mirror I could see my uniform laid out on the bed, prepared to be worn.

            “Amelia, you’re crazy. Bribing a recruiting officer… You’re going to get yourself killed.” Margaret said from behind me.

            “That’s war for ya.” I replied finishing my hair and getting up. I slid into my uniform in front of the mirror, observing how it fitted my body. “The first and only time I will ever be glad I’m flat-chested.” Margaret gave a half-hearted laugh.

            “What you’re doing… It’s admirable, heroic even, but it’s so dangerous, and I can’t stand the thought of losing my best friend I ever had.” I heard a break in her voice, the only kind of break you hear when someone is about to cry, and it is the hardest thing in the world to listen to, especially coming from your best friend. I knew this moment was coming at some point and I had feared it.

            “Hey…” I whispered and turned and pulled her into a hug. She held me tightly, sniffling into my neck. I could tell she was trying so hard not to cry and it was impossible not to feel the need to cry right along with her, but I couldn’t do that now, I’m not a civilian, I’m a soldier.

            “You come back to me, you hear? I suck at meeting new people, much less making friends with them.” I smiled, holding back the tears that so desperately wanted to spill onto my cheeks.

            “I Promise. Just as long as you promise to write me all the time and I will be the first to know if your sight brightens.” She nodded curtly and wiped away the tears that had escaped.

            “And Amelia Ro Larchwood, if you don’t tell me that your sight brightens while you’re over there, I’ll never forgive you as long as I live.” I smiled at her and grabbed her in a tight hug. We hugged until it was time for me to leave. We said our final teary-eyed goodbyes and I left. I was on my way to England to the 107th division.

 

…………..

 

            I had the act down perfectly. I almost even was able to convince myself that I was a guy. Now I just had to keep everybody else convinced.

            I was glad to be off the ship and on a train now. The train was much more comfortable, not as cramped.

            A few men aboard the train talked with each other, guffawing at stories, while others sat quietly, reading a newspaper or sleeping. I tried my best to become invisible, but of course trying not to get noticed will never fail to get you noticed.

            “Where you from, bud?” I heard a guy ask from behind me. I squeezed my eyes shut and clenched my teeth, mentally preparing myself before I answered him. When I did answer him, I used the voice I had practiced hundreds of times, masculine, but not hilariously so.

            “Staten Island, New York, you?”

            “Me? Brooklyn.” He hesitated a moment. “Hey, you sure you from Staten? Sound like a New Jerseyer to me.” His voice was skeptical.

            “Yeah, originally from Jersey. Moved to New York a year or two ago.”

            “Sure thing, bud. Hope you’re not a softie,” he said then slapped me hard on the shoulder before leaving me to myself again. Sleep seemed to be the best option for the remainder of the ride, so I leaded back, rested my head against the window, closed my eyes, and fell into a gentle, dreamless sleep.

 

            It appeared that there were only two others that were transferring to the 107th. We were to first report to our Sergeant for orders, find out our commanding officers, and be directed to our quarters.

            Tomorrow about half the division, including myself were going to be attacking a small German camp located several miles north of base. I was jittery but ready. I shared my sleeping quarters with two other guys called Jay and Vinny. They met at basic and were inseparable since. They were nice enough, said I could hang out with them.

For the rest of the day we just kind of hung out, playing cards and just talking. Then someone knocked at the wood door of the tent.

“Enter,” Jay said. I heard the creak of the door open and heard the person speak but I didn’t look up from my cards, I needed to focus.

“You guys got room from one more?” the person asked.

“Sure thing, Buck! Sit down.” Vinny said. “Meet Harvey, by the way. He’s a new arrival. Just today, too.” I threw away three cards from my hand into the small pile on the table and told Jay, who was dealing. “Harvey, this is Bucky.” Vinny spoke again gesturing to the new guy at our table.

“Hey, Bucky,” I said and looked up at him. He looked different, different from everybody else, that is. Like there was just something about him that makes you feel different. Almost like you’ve been trying to find something for as long as you can remember and then suddenly you’ve found it. He was looking at me in the same way I was sure I was looking at him. Suddenly I knew why. It was like an electric wave surged over my body, enlightening every nerve, twisting my stomach in a tight knot. My eyes began to burn, the same kind of burn when you’re about to cry. I tried to remain calm and act like nothing was happening but it felt like the universe had just suddenly shifted and was revolving around me and the man sitting across from me. Everything seemed to slow down to an almost complete stop. I could hear the seconds ticking, one… two… three… I was hyper aware of every single thing happening. My heart beat loud in my ears, my slow breaths. The seconds still ticking away, four… five… six… then I blinked, my eyelids slowly sliding shut and then everything stopped completely, but for only the shortest amount of time possible. When I opened my eyes again, everything was normal, Jay and Vinny arguing about rules of the card game, and Bucky still staring at me. Except, he was there now, in full color. He had lightish brown hair that was more or less neat, a few stray strands falling on his foreheard, blue eyes that stood out against his hair and pink lips that naturally curved up even when he wasn’t smiling. I knew he had to be experiencing the same thing as me, because his eyes roamed my face, scrutinizing.

“Hey, you guys gonna play or keep having eye sex?” Jay said loudly, interrupting our reverie.

“Shut-up, man. I recognize him, just trying to figure out where from.” Bucky replied, shoving Jay. It was a good save. I jumped in to make it stronger.

“Are you from Brooklyn?” I asked, even though I wasn’t from Brooklyn, but they didn’t know that.

“Yeah. That might be it. I’ve seen you around someplace.”

“I agree, now,” I said, “back to the game.” We played a few more decks of poker, all the while, Bucky and I kept glancing up at each other. Finally Vinny and Jay got hungry and went to get lunch in the mess tent. They invited me and Bucky but we declined, claiming that we wanted to keep playing.

After the door slammed behind them, Bucky and I just looked at each other. “Did you..?” Bucky started but I cut him off immediately.

“Yep.” We stayed silent another moment before Bucky spoke again.

“I always thought I was straight.” That moment I remembered this was weird for him because he thought I was a guy. I didn’t know if I should keep up the charade or just tell him now and swear him to secrecy. Of the latter, I decided to just go ahead and tell him.

“Um…” I began, “actually… you’re not…” It was hard to force the words out. Bucky looked confused. “You see, well, um… I kind of broke the law, and um, I’m actually- I’m actually a girl.” I wasn’t able to look at him when I told him, I was looking down in my lap, fiddling with my pants. When I finished, I peeked up at him and was ready to jump up and wrestle him to the ground if he tried to run out into the middle of the compound and spill my secret to the world. Instead, he just sat there with his mouth open a little. Then he started to smile. I started to smile a little too, confused at his reaction, also because his smile was contagious. A moment later, he was laughing like I just told him the greatest joke in the world.

“What? Bucky, what are you laughing at?” The smile on my face grew a little bigger as he calmed himself down.

“Oh…” he sighed, “it’s just that you remind me of my friend who would do anything to get into the army. He’s been lying on his enlistment form, and here you are.” I was still confused. I was pretty sure he wasn’t going to tattle, but I asked anyway.

“So, you’re not going to tell anyone are you?” I sounded hopeful, almost like a child begging their parent for a candy bar.

“What? Hell no. I’m also just relieved that I’m not gay. Not that there’s a problem with being gay,” he said quickly. For the next few minutes we just talked about how different it is being able to see color. Then he asked me a more serious question. “So, why did you want to join the army? All that’s over here is death and destruction, and more death.” I sat for a short, quiet moment pondering my answer.

“Because I needed to,” Bucky stayed quiet, waiting for me to continue. “I don’t have anything left in Brooklyn, save for Margaret, she’s my legal guardian and best friend.”

“Surely she’s worth going back to?”

“Of course! But what is there in Brooklyn for me to do? I’m not going to sit in some factory for hours at a time connecting one piece to another, then going out to say ‘I helped in the war effort’ because that’s not me. I can’t feel like I’m actually helping when I’m sitting at home. Do you get what I’m saying?” He nodded, another small smile gracing his lips.

“It’s crazy,” Bucky began, and huffed a laugh, “It’s almost like I’m destined to surround myself with people like you.” I cocked my head, confused by ‘people like you’. “My best friend, I mentioned him earlier, his name is Steve. Like I said, he would do anything to get into the army. Thank god he’s such a little guy, otherwise he might actually get in.” Bucky looked down at his hands. “He feels the exact same way as you. The day before I was shipped out, he tried again to enlist, I tried to stop him, but he told me ‘I’m not going to sit in a factory, Bucky. There are men laying down their lives, I got no right to do any less than them. That’s what you don’t understand. This isn’t about me.’ And I swear, if we had more guys like you and Steve… We might actually win this war.” A small smile appeared on my lips.

Bucky leaned forward on the table, resting his chin on his hand. “You’re my soul mate,” he said. I grinned bigger. “Man fate really outdid this one.”

“Do you believe in fate?” I asked, leaning forward as well.

“I believe in the future,” he replied.

“I suppose that’s a good thing to believe in.”

“You’re beautiful, you know that?” Bucky commented randomly.

“Even with the short hair and no makeup?” I asked. I was too comfortable talking to him to be surprised.

“Especially.” He grinned and I blushed. A troubled look crossed Bucky’s face. “Say, how did you get through basic training?” he asked. It was a good question, but I didn’t feel like telling him the truth, so I just said “magic” and left it at that. He laughed and we spent the rest of the time flirting childishly back and forth until I heard the footsteps and laughter of my returning tent mates.

The door opened and Jay and Vinny found us just as they had left us; playing cards. “So did you two have sex yet?” Vinny joked.

“No, we thought we’d wait until marriage,” I shot back. Vinny laughed and I shared a knowing look with Bucky that the guys didn’t see.

Later that night, after dinner, Bucky asked me if I wanted to go on a walk. There was a short trail leading to a creek through the woods that the guys in camp could walk when they were off duty. I, of course, said yes.

“So what do you think of the place? Good first day?” he asked me as we strolled through the trees.

“Not too bad,” I smiled and playfully bumped him.

“Good, not too many guys are that lucky,” he whispered. We walked quietly for the rest of the trail until we got to the creek. Someone had made little benches out of logs which we sat down on.

“It’s so strange,” I started, “it’s so quiet here. Everywhere else around the world, people are dying. It almost feels like this spot here can’t be touched.” Bucky didn’t reply and I didn’t speak again, so we just sat and listened to the noises of the night. A frog croaked from somewhere downstream, crickets chirped, and the running water were enough to send you into a blissful deep sleep. Bucky grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers, his grasp was gentle and his hands were soft.

“I don’t know if you know, but we are really lucky to have this location. To have tents even. A lot of guys are sleeping in trenches, in fields, even camps.” I knew what he meant by camps. “I’m even luckier that you’re here.” I giggled.

“Don’t be sappy.” He laughed quietly.

“It’s a shame though, I never even got to use any degrading pick up lines on you before I didn’t need them anymore,” he smiled.

“What do you mean?”

“You were instantly attracted to me, so I didn’t need to use them.” I laughed.

“You were getting ready to use them on a guy?” I said, remembering that he thought he was gay.

“No, of course not, but how else do you think I get dates? To say that is, if I knew you were a girl.” I laughed and shook my head.

“This is getting confusing.” We laughed quietly and it was quiet again. We sat for another couple minutes. From the camp we could hear a couple guys playing some sort of game, but other than that and the sounds of the night, not a sound was to be heard.

“I never learned your real name, Harvey,” Bucky said, air-quoting my male name.

“It’s Amelia. Amelia Ro Larchwood.” I told him.

“Okay, Amelia, look at me, you got something on your mouth.” He turned my head toward him with his finger.

“What is it?” I asked him.

“Me,” he said and pressed his lips on mine. I giggled into the kiss and snaked my hand from his shoulder to the back of his head, his hair bristling through my fingers. His lips were soft and he was skilled at kissing, I could tell he’d had plenty of practice. Slowly, we finally broke apart. “You know, Amelia, I think I love you.” Bucky whispered. I kissed him again.

“Well you know, it kind of comes with the soul mate thing.” I told him and he smiled and kissed me again.

“Bucky?” I asked in between kisses. He mumbled a “hmm”. “I love you too.”

The next day came bright and early. We were leaving to march up to the German camp at 6 o’clock sharp. I thought we should’ve left earlier but what did I know, I was only a private. At breakfast, Bucky and I sat together and talked about today’s plan. He didn’t like the fact that he was headed off to a different sector and thought about asking to get his orders changed, but I advised him not to. He finally agreed and we spent the rest of breakfast talking with Jay and Vinny, who had come over to harass us some more.

In the few seconds we had to talk before we lined up, Bucky spent it talking to me. “You come back, you got that?” I laughed.

“Look who you’re talking to sarge, you know me better than just to leave you here with this lot,” I said and gestured to Jay and Vinny, who weren’t paying attention. Vinny was ordered to go with Bucky’s sector and Jay with mine.

Moments later we were all lined up and marching toward our objective.

 

…………

 

Bucky's POV

The fighting was over soon enough it felt, though I’m sure that we had been on the field for hours. I survived, unscathed, as did the majority of this sector; unfortunately, there were a small number, perhaps five, that weren’t so lucky.

“Bucky! Over here!” Vinny called to me from across the field. He was holding down a bandage over one of our comrade’s leg. Blood seeped through the rag and soaked Vinny’s hand. “Hand me that other piece of fabric. This guy needs to get to a medical unit soon, he’s bleeding pretty bad. Thanks,” he said when I handed him the fabric which appeared to be a torn shirt.

Suddenly it felt like the bright sunlight was burning my skin. I mumbled and excuse me to Vinny and crawled over to where the field meets the forest and sat under a tree. I looked out across the field and the bright light stung my eyes, making them hurt, instinctively I shut them. I waited a moment then I rubbed my eyes and opened them again. Everything was a bright white at first, then it faded to normal contrast. Only it was normal contrast for black and white. Color was not to be seen and I knew. A sharp pang in my heart echoed all over my body. I stopped breathing and rubbed my eyes again, nothing changed. Suddenly from where I had left Vinny I heard screaming, I paid little attention at first, thinking it was the screams of a dying soldier, but then I listened a little closer and I realized Vinny was the one screaming. I crawled over to him quickly.

“Oh god! No! No! God please, no!” he screamed. When I got closer, I saw him beating the ground with his fists, then holding his head, still screaming. “No Jay, no!” Then I realized why.

“Come here, Vinny, come here, its okay, alright? Its okay,” I tried to soothe him, but it wasn’t okay, it wasn’t okay at all. I grasped Vinny in a hug as he continued to groan into my shoulder, hugging me back tightly, his hands gripping the back of my jacket. I felt the sleeve of my shoulder dampen and I knew Vinny was crying. I felt something drip off my chin and realized that I was crying too.

 

………….

 

            The doorbell rang and Margaret put down the letter she received from Amelia telling about Bucky Barnes and how different everything was being able to see in color.

            “Yes?” she said when she opened the door.

            “Ms. Webber? I’m Sergeant James Barnes.” Margaret’s face lit up and she let him in.

            “How can I help you? Amelia’s told me a lot about you…” Bucky didn’t let her finish.

            “Ms. Webber…” The look on his face showed it all. Margaret’s face fell slowly.

            “No, you’re lying to me.” She tried to deny it but she knew he was telling the truth. She wished to god that this was some form of a sick joke, but she knew it wasn’t. Margaret broke down into tears and instantly Bucky pulled her in for a hug. He felt the sobs racking her body and he’d been through this only weeks ago. Bucky knew she would’ve just gotten Amelia’s letter, thanks to the mail service, and it would be even harder for her because it seemed like she was just talking to her best friend moments ago.

            “Sh-she told me she’d come back to me,” Margaret whimpered into Bucky’s chest

            “Funny,” he said sadly, “she said the same thing to me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! I would really appreciate some feedback on your thoughts please :) comment any mistakes or things I could do better on! Constructive criticism is always appreciated! Thanks for reading!


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